Toyota New Zealand say their new 'Driveaway' pricing stratergy is on target after its first month, despite getting off to a quiet start in showrooms.
In April New Zealand's best-selling car brand launched 'Drive Happy', a haggle free fixed pricing policy where customers know the full price of a car up front with the goal of extinguishing competition between rival Toyota dealerships.
According to Toyota the brand sold 1362 cars in April, compared with the 2421 new Toyotas registered one month earlier according to Motor Industry Association data.
But Toyota said a drop off in volume was normal for this time of year and the comapny had planed for slower sales after the policy's introduction.
"We expected a significant dip in sales for April," said Toyota New Zealands CEO, Alistair Davis.
"The first month of the new financial year – April – is also slower for fleet, rental and lease business. This has allowed us to fine tune some of our system changes without the pressure of the usual larger sales volumes.”
Toyota New Zealand CEO and managing director Alistair Davis
He said customers had to get used to the idea of a Toyota Driveaway Price (TDP) with no haggling, but stated that Driveway Prices are lower than the previous recommended retail prices.
Toyota Driveaway Prices includes delivery costs, registration, a full tank of fuel, floor mats, 1000kms of road user charges on diesel vehicles and a seven-day money back policy if the customer is not happy with the vehicle.
Customers are also making use of Toyota's online features with Toyota confirming a 10 per cent increase in visitors to their website on the previous month, with 15 per cent of those making use of the online car builder.
“Customers have more options to get the exact model in the colour they want from the large pool of vehicles held in Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch,” said Mr Davis.
"Transitioning to a new way of doing business is not going to happen overnight, or even in one month. We are in this for the long term."
Toyota is the largest vehicle distributor in New Zealand, claiming almost 21 per cent of the market last year. So far in 2018, almost one in four new vehicles sold in New Zealand is a Toyota.
-Driven